[ad_1]

WASHINGTON: The Biden White House has condemned the alleged online harassment and intimidation of a Wall Street Journal reporter. Sabrina is my friend His question to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a press conference last week about alleged discrimination against religious minorities in India sparked outrage among his supporters, who support his claim that such reports are motivated and exaggerated.
“We are aware of the reports of such harassment. It is unacceptable. We completely condemn any harassment of journalists, anywhere and under any circumstances.” Even as government ministers in India joined right-wing trolls in attacking former President Barack Obama, who appeared to also be criticizing the prime minister over the issue, White House spokesman John Kirby said in response to a question.
“It is antithetical to the very principles of democracy that were demonstrated last week during the state visit,” Kirby added, as both Obama and Siddique were attacked and questioned about their lack of interest in discrimination against Hindu minorities in other countries, and the United States. His own record on human rights and civil liberties.
The White House press secretary, Karen Jean-Pierre, joined in the jab, condemning “any effort to intimidate or harass a journalist or any journalist who is just trying to do their job” as the row sparked exchanges on social media over the weekend.
As the Wall Street Journal defended my friend, Saying that she is a respected journalist known for her integrity and unbiased reporting. “This harassment of our reporter is unacceptable and we strongly condemn it,” the newspaper said.
Pro-BJP elements continued to attack Siddique, Obama and the US media’s approach to the issue, saying that calling them their “hidden agenda and prejudices” was legitimate.
“This is also freedom of speech. Just as journalists have a right to ask questions, citizens also have a right to call out biased reporting. Period! Go home, crybabies, if you can’t handle this,” read one of hundreds of tweets endorsing the prime minister’s view that he Since India is a democratic country and widely accepted as such, there is no room for discrimination against any minorities.
Modi also suggested at the press conference that since the government was constitutionally secular, it had a duty to provide services to all people regardless of religion, caste etc., a response that critics said circumvented as they say private, institutional and societal discrimination. It became more widespread under the Modi government.
Meanwhile, the journalist who was at the center of the storm, described as a “Pakistani Islamist”, posted a cryptic tweet with a picture of herself cheering for the Indian cricket team with her father saying: Personal background, it is only appropriate to provide a fuller picture. Sometimes identities are more complex than they seem.”
Former President Obama, who had already reversed the administration’s decision to ban Modi from entering the United States and welcomed him to the White House after his (Modi’s) election in 2014, did not respond to sharp criticism from the prime minister’s cabinet colleagues, particularly the finance minister. Nirmala Sitharaman and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh who questioned his bombing of Muslim countries.
Obama and Modi appeared to develop a personal relationship near the end of the former president’s term, going so far as to address each other as “Barack” and “Narendra”. But in an interview with Christiane Amanpour on the eve of Modi’s meeting with Biden, Obama said that if he was in President Biden’s meeting with Modi, he would tell the prime minister that “if you don’t protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, then there is a strong possibility that India, at some point, starts in disintegration.”
He added, “I think it is appropriate for a President of the United States, where he can, to uphold these principles and challenge — whether behind closed doors or in public — the troubling trends.”
That sparked outrage among Modi’s supporters, who invoked former president Hussain’s middle name to highlight his Islamic heritage and issued the hashtag #ObamaDon’t Skip Him. But Obama is a devout Christian. He also sometimes carries a statue of Hanuman in his pocket.
American officials maintain that it is perfectly legitimate, even desirable, for both countries to criticize each other’s treatment of minorities for the betterment of both societies.
In fact, before Modi’s visit, the White House said it would raise its concerns on the matter without lecturing Modi.
“We do this in a way that we don’t seek to lecture or stress that we don’t face challenges. Ultimately, the question of where politics go and the question of democratic institutions in India will be decided within India by Indians. United State.”
And on Monday, the White House confirmed that the matter was in the Biden-Modi talks.
“So, as we’ve said many times, the president will never hesitate to have those conversations with a world leader, a head of state, when it comes to human rights. He’s done that over the past two years and through his career as vice president and certainly as a senator. I’m not going to go into it.” In private conversations, but I think we’ve made ourselves a lot clear here — from our point of view,” White House press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre said.



[ad_2]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *